Celebrating 2000 Students, ‘Walk for Population Stabilization’

India, World Population day 2013 by a Walk for Population Stabilization

Over 2000 students from various schools of Delhi participated in the walk to endorse their support for the cause of population stabilization. The Walk was an effort to build momentum and raise awareness around issues like low female literacy, early age at marriage and early child bearing among a host of other challenges to be dealt with to address the issue of population stabilisation. Carrying placards with slogans supporting the cause of population stabilisation, students joined in to advocate for the cause.

Addressing the flag off ceremony, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare said the walk has been organized to underscore the importance of population stabilization at sustainable levels for overall socio-economic development. He hoped that the walk would be able to generate awareness and persuade people to have small family norm for the betterment of the health of the mother, the child and the whole family.

As per 2011 census, India’s population has risen to 1.21 billion.

The decadal growth rate during 2001–2011 is 17.64 per cent in comparison to 21.15 per cent in 1991–2001. The 2001-2011 period is the first decade with exception of 1911-1921 which has added less population compared to the previous decade. But states like UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh have witnessed high growth of population.

Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh(JSK) has been registered as an autonomous society of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Government has provided a Rs100 crore Corpus fund to signify its commitment to the activities of the Kosh. JSK has to use the interest on the Corpus and also raise contributions from organisations and individuals that support population stabilization.

JSK has been promoting a drive for membership from among experts in population studies and allied sectors, medical associations, associations of Industry and Trade, banks, NGOs, paramedics and general citizens. The main aim is to bring the need for population stabilisation into focus. The work is being undertaken according to decisions taken by Governing Board which has a blend of both government and non-government members with the governing members acting as umpires and facilitators.

The JSK’s Annual Report and Accounts are tabled in Parliament and its accounts can be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

JSK has started a first of its kind Call Centre on ‘Reproductive Health, Family Planning and Child Health (011-66665555) using the services of an international BPO Vcustomer, to give information on Reproductive Health, Family Planning, Infant Health and related subjects, using computer based software.

On 10th of June 2008, the service was inaugurated by Shri Naresh Dayal, Secretary, Ministry of Health and family Welfare at vCustomer premises. The function was started with a brief presentation on JSK’s objective by Executive Director, JSK, Mrs. Shailaja Chandra followed by appreciation words by Shri Naresh Dayal

The Call Centre can be accessed by anyone by simply dialing Toll Free no. 1800-11-6555 or 011-66665555, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Monday to Saturday.

Initially publicity was aimed at Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bulandsahar, NOIDA, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Mewat, to gain experience before opening the service to more towns and eventually rural areas. JSK now plans to move to the States Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP where owing to various socio-cultural factors people in all age groups, and particularly young people do not have easy access to authentic information.

JSK is a unique organization. Its goal is to promote initiatives which leverage the strength of different economic and social sectors and reach out to needy population groups through innovative strategies.

It is a combination of government and civil society working hand in hand to promote innovations by drawing on the strength of joint partnerships.

All the events that JSK has organized are evidence of partnership forged already which indicates JSK’s uniqueness.

JSK’s other unique initiatives:

District level Health Facility GIS Maps and Indices

JSK has undertaken a unique exercise with the help of National Informatics Centre to create maps which show the existence of health facilities district wise. These maps are an amalgamation of GIS maps and Census data which give a picture of each district, its sub-divisions and the location of Primary Health Centres, Sub Centres, prominent towns and urban areas. Separately for each district there is an excel sheet which gives the distance of each village** in each taluka (Sub-District) from the Primary Health Center.

The Virtual Resource Centre

It is the one stop service for providing access to advocacy and communication material related to issues such as population, gender, mother, infant and child health, sexuality, reproductive health, HIV / AIDS, declining sex ratio, women’s rights, nutrition, adolescent health, sexual violence. It provides a resource base that can help further the dialogue and enhance understanding on any or all the above issues among different audiences.

The material hosted on the website is especially appropriate for the following:

1. NGOs and civil society groups working in related areas
2. Schools: Senior students and teachers
3. Government bodies working with communities
4. Medical Colleges – students and teaching staff
5. Institutes of Public Health
6. University Colleges – Departments of social work, sociology, population studies
7. Researchers and Research Organizations
8. Media: Print and TV journalists Most of the material is available for free.

PRERNA

A Responsible Parenthood Strategy scheme in 2008 in seven focus states namely

Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Rajasthan

The strategy recognizes and awards couples who have broken the stereotype of early marriage and early childbirth and helped change mindsets.
In this scheme, the girl should have been married after 19 years of age and given birth to the first child at least after 2 years of marriage. The couple will get award of Rs. 10000/- if it is Boy child or Rs. 12000/- if it is Girl child.

If birth of second child is at least after 3 years of first child birth and either parent voluntarily accept permanent method of family planning within one year of the birth of the second child, couple will get additional Rs. 5000/- if boy child and Rs. 7000/- if girl child.

The scheme is only for BPL families. (Subject to important conditions: Couple must belong to BPL family, Age of lady should not exceed 30 years, the girl should have been married after 19 years, and first child birth is at least after 2 years of marriage. Second child birth is at least after 3 years of first child birth and either parent voluntarily accepts permanent method of family planning within one year of second child birth, etc)

SANTUSHTI SCHEME

Santushti is a Scheme of Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (JSK) for high populated states of India viz Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh & Odisha. Under this scheme, Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh, invites private sector gynecologists and vasectomy surgeons to conduct operations in Public Private Partnership mode.

According to this Scheme, an accredited private Nursing Home/Hospital (Quality assurance manual for Sterilization services), can sign a MOU with JSK. Upon signing the MOU Pvt. Hospitals/NH shall be entitled for incentive, whenever it conducts 10 or more Tubectomy/Vasectomy cases in a month. To participate in this scheme, Private Hospitals/Nursing Homes may contact either District Chief Medical & Health Officer or Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh.

With adolescent pregnancy the focus of this year’s UN World Population Day, India aims to reach out to its young population and push spacing as a measure for family planning to achieve the total fertility rate of 2.1 in all states.

As part of its family planning programme, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the first time has started providing post partum intra-uterine contraceptive device (IUCD) to women who deliver children in government set-ups.

Post partum IUCD is a measure of spacing children and is administered to women within 48 hours of delivery.

Of the total 2.6 crore deliveries across the country, 1.25 crore take place in government set-ups.

As per the National Family Health Survey 3, 47% girls in India get married before the age of 18 years and early marriage leads of early child bearing.
With only 7 per cent of 15-19 year-old using contraceptive as per the NFHS 3, the unmet need for family planning is higher among among 15-19 year-olds at 27% compared to 13% unmet need across all age groups.

“We have already started providing IUCDs where the rush of deliveries is more. There are 16000 such delivery points in public sector where substantial number of deliveries take place that will be covered under the programme. Currently such facilities are being provided at government medical colleges and subsequently the district hospitals and other sub-centres will be targeted,” said NRHM mission director and additional secretary in the Health Ministry Anuradha Gupta.

She said to reduce the total fertility rate, the emphasis is on spacing and young mothers are being encouraged to do so.

The Health Ministry, under its flagship National Health Scheme, is taking the help of counsellors who will encourage young women to use contraceptives and space their children.

So far, a total of 1,333 counsellors on contractual basis have been employed at such high-case delivery points and more will be appointed soon.

To target adolescents for providing sex education to them along with awareness on nutrition, government also aims to develop peer educators.
Of the 16.4 million married adolescent pregnancies across the world, four million are in India alone. Teenage pregnancies account for almost 16% of the total pregnancies in India and almost 9% of total maternal deaths. READ MORE – SEX EDUCATION

India has launched a RMNCD+A strategy that seeks to address reproductive, maternal, neo-natal, child health plus adolescent health need, delivering health services in homes and communities, along with public health facilities of 26 crore targeted adolescents aims to focus on 184 priority districts.

The UNFPA has said that the unwanted, unplanned pregnancies increase the chances of unsafe abortions that risk the life of young women and adolescent pregnancies face a higher risk of maternal mortality.

Gupta said data available suggests that 45% maternal deaths occur in 15-25 age group while in 40% pregancies, there is no appropriate spacing among children.
She said 21 states and union territories which account for 44% population have already achieved Total Fertility Rate of 2.1.
With focus on spacing of children, doorstep delivery of contraceptives by ASHA workers has also started in 233 districts and later will be done across the country.

UNFPA representative for India and Bhutan Frederika Meijer said, “The greatest returns on investment come from investing in adolescent girls. Educated and healthy girls have the opportunity to reach their full potential and claim their human rights. They are also more likely to marry later, delay childbearing, have healthier children, and earn higher incomes. They will be a force for change in their communities and generations to come.”

Some excerpts from an interview with Frederika Meijer

Teenage pregnancies happen across the world. How does the issue differ in India?

Frederika Meijer: In India, there are a lot of girls who are marrying young so a lot of teenage pregnancies happen within wedlock. With the latest government figure from the 2005-06 National Family Health Survey, 47% of girls get married in India before the age of 18. Social cultural practices, combined with limited knowledge of family planning and the low status of girls, especially in rural India, means that girls and young women often have a child within the first year of marriage to prove their fertility.

So this leads to a high amount of teenage pregnancies. This is related to a low level knowledge about reproductive health. The whole issue of how you get pregnant is not really known to many young people so there is a low demand for contraceptives.

In India, contraceptives used by young people is only 9% of the overall use so a lot needs to be done about raising awareness, what contraceptives are, what family planning is and what is best for them.

It’s a development issue as girls drop out of school and they marry. They’re often not empowered enough to choose for themselves what they want. Lesser education also means lesser opportunities for paid work.

Are young women more vulnerable to maternal mortality?

Ms. Meijer: India has done well on reducing maternal mortality but also we know women who are delivering at the age of 18 or 19 have a far higher risk of dying during childbirth. Every hour, three out of seven women dying in childbirth are less than 25 years old.

The reasons behind this are that a lot of young women have anemia, so getting pregnant at a young age and the body is not mature enough, they have to feed themselves and their babies, and the body, quite often, is not strong enough. In poorer regions of India, there’s the problem of malnutrition. If you combine malnutrition with early childbirth, the risk of dying during childbirth is far higher. Read more here.

Indian marked World Population day 2013 by a Walk for Population Stabilization

Indian marked World Population day 2013 by a Walk for Population Stabilization which was flagged off by Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of NCT of Delhi from India Gate to Vijay Chowk.

This was followed by National Dialogue on Population Stabilization for a Better Tomorrow at Vigyan Bhavan.
Both these events were organized by Jansankhya Sthirata Kosh (National Population Stabilization Fund)

Source: http://www.jsk.gov.in/index.asp

Press Information Bureau

Thanks to Meetika Srivastava

Contributions thanks to Dr. Raveesh Srivastava PhD – Raveesh Srivastava, Facebook